Backstage at DKNY

by Eva Chen

The minute I walked backstage at the DKNY F/W 2010 fashion extravaganza, I
immediately fell in love with the look. The girls were so sophisticated and
the makeup color palette was absolutely breathtaking. I spoke with Charlotte
Tilbury of the MAC Pro Team, and she gave me the lowdown on how to achieve
the confident and beautiful DKNY appearance. Charlotte drew inspiration from
the DKNY colors of the season which include camel, taupe, and chocolate
browns. The tweeds were very English and reminiscent of the 1920's and she
echoed this with breathtaking washes of color on the face. She stressed the
"no blush" look of the season, and instead played up the color on the lips.
She filled in the eyebrow for a darker-than-usual arch and added shadow all
the way up and around the eye. She also used beige and white eyeliner inside
the eye instead of dark liner. She strayed away from mascara, leaving eyes
earthy. Charlotte gave the face a porcelain sheen with MAC Sculpt and Shape
Face Powder in Bone/Beige. My favorite part of Charlotte's palette was the
"winey, chocolate lip stain" that is a new MAC lip color called Chococino
that gave a matte, strong finish to the lips.

Then, I got to hear about a very exciting innovation in hair extensions and coloring from Eva Scrivo for Wella Professionals! She teamed up with Eugene Soulieman, Global Creative Director for Wella Professionals, to style really chic and modern equestrian-style ponytails. They channeled DKNY's urban, everyday city-girl style hair. The hair extensions had hand-painted highlights in rich hues from different shades of blond to chocolate brown. The extensions were then cleverly woven into the hair with the lighter pieces in front, as if naturally sun-kissed. These colors were extremely natural and not as frosty as some dye jobs tend to be. All of the models received extensions to add fullness, and they were easily applied with eyelash adhesive glue, which did not damage hair when being pulled off! Next Eugene explained how he used side-swept ponytails to make the girls look like they would "just after a horse race, when the hair isn't as tight; it is younger, fresher, and sexier." After adding the extensions, he applied heat while brushing the hair with a large round brush. Next, he ran his hands through the hair to make soft waves, pulled hair to a side part and fastened it back into a low, side ponytail. He made sure to leave the hair on the opposite side of the ponytail loose around the face, a great idea to counteract the sometimes off-balance look of a side ponytail! His last step involved smoothing System Professional Hypercurl on the ponytail to break up
the length and add some dimension. To top off the ultimate DKNY chic look,
Knock Out Cosmetics creator Mike Potter provided four matte nailpolish
colors in Pool, Plaster, Concrete and Sher. The colors looked like candy,
and I cannot WAIT to grab Sher when it comes out next season. It looks good
enough to eat, just like the orange sherbet that inspired its name.